A weekend @ Y-40 the world‘s deepest pool

Two weeks ago I packed my bags and went to Y-40 in Italy. Deep dive training with 15 other freedivers. We booked 4 sessions and the first one was pretty early in the morning. I did some nice dives and I was motivated and excited for the second session.

On the way from my room to the pool I had that feeling „i‘m strong and I’m feeling good. Everything is possible!“

but after a few warm up dives I couldn‘t equalize anymore and I had strong pain in my sinus. I couldn‘t go deeper than 2m. That was really frustrating. In the third session i still had the same problems. Which ment: no diving.

Nevertheless I was in the water and watched the others.

After the third session we went for dinner with the whole bunch of divers.

Time is never wasted when you spend it with nice people and good food.

On sunday morning we had our last session and I wasn‘t sure if I could dive again. I tried a warm up dive to 3m. No pain, no problems with equalizing. Yessss! finally back in the game.

After some fun dives to 10m I was ready for more. I went to the deepdiving zone. There are 3 ropes going down to the bottom of the pool. 42m

I did some breathing exercises to relax and lower my heartrate. Right in that moment when I took a deep breath to fill my lungs I was thinking about my dad. My eyes filled with tears. It was like I took a breath to fill his lungs as well. I closed my eyes.

When I started to pull myself down the rope - suddenly my mind was... empty. It was just the warm water and me. A strange feeling which I never felt before. I felt light as a feather. No thoughts, no weight, no ballast. Only my body gliding through warm water. I stopped pulling and enjoyed the freefall. when I turned, it wasn‘t because i felt the urge to breath or equalizing problems. I turned because it felt good to turn. I had no idea how deep I was and it wasn‘t important. I made my way up back to the surface and I really enjoyed the ascent. (i never enjoyed the ascent before) After some deep breaths I did have a feeling of lightness. My head was empty, I was just in the here and now.

It wasn‘t my deepest but actually my longest dive so far. I did another dive.... a bit deeper and even longer than the first one and ended the session with very positive feelings. it wasn‘t about numbers - it was about the feelings and relaxation.

a nice weekend in bella Italia ended with a 6hrs drive back home. What a weekend! Thanks to everyone who made it possible!